BlackBerry 10 Aristo spec sheet appears, calls for Quad-Core Krait

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard me mention the BlackBerry Aristo a couple of times. I mentioned it before in the forums as well a little ways back but at that time there were very few specs for it available. It was noted to be a successor of the BlackBerry London series and the start of the new A-Series devices. Now, a new spec sheet has popped up for the device backing up some of the information. As you can see, the specs are calling for a whole lot of goodness:

Sounds awesome right? Needless to say, it raises the question about early adopters and when this device will come out. This looks to be a full package device, one that many might want to hold off and wait for. Now, I will admit the Laguna, Lisbon and London specs that leaked over the weekend looked a little shady to me but these specs are more of what we were hoping to see.

Well done mate! Agree what you said.
But can you see something familiar here? YES, the BlackBerry's "too late".
Cant get it... At this point BlackBerry 10 OS is almost 100% done. They said that the hardware was final also. So what the hell was this delay for (bb 10)? The first bb 10 phone should be out by now, and half a year after "the should" launch, we are going to get the same old hardware that will be outdated by the time RIM shows the devices.

I agree to, i have trends stores ...if my clients what to buy new stuff i give them good stuff and i dont tell them comme in 6 month....im a big big fan of blackberry but i also start to think that the devices should release now now now....sorry for my english

Face detection is not the same as facial recognition. Face detection has been in BBs (and pretty much any device with a touchscreen) for a while now. Its the function that detects when your face is near the device while on a call and stops the touchscreen from working so you don't accidentally hit things.

Well, that has one little advantage. The battery can be bigger. So compare that 2.800 mAh battery to other phones with 4.65 inch displays. SGS3? 4.8 inch display, 700 mAh less capacity. HTC OneX? 4.7 inch display, 1.000 mAh less capacity. Those 2.800 mAh will rock the hell out of it.

SGS3 has a 2100 mah battery. And has most of the specs of this prototype blackberry. Now RIM has you waiting on yet another thing phone when bb10 is not even out yet. This is the kind of stuff that made me leave bb for Android. When is RIM gonna just put out phones without a big song and dance routine.

I was almost all but certain I would be getting the full-touch BB10 device at launch...but with these specs announced for a device to come in the middle of 2013, I think I will have to wait.

Another thing making me want to wait is the fact that the first device will have a different aspect ratio from all other devices released, making applications not fit properly (not a massive problem, but can still be annoying to have every application letterboxed)

And by the time this phone is released, you'll be crying about the fact that another EVEN better BlackBerry is getting released in a few months. Technology moves super fast. The above specs are already out on Android phones like the LG Optimus G, HTC OneX+, Galaxy NOTE 2 etc.

By next summer, the Galaxy S4, iPhone 5s will probably be about to be released as well.

RIM needs to release this phone now, not wait till next summer. It needs to stop playing catch-up and once again be the dominant smartphone in the world with cutting-edge technology.

not to mention releasing much faster than other manufacturers (iPhone & Samsung). of course those are just one-series phones, but there's just so much beauty about variety. it's pretty much been a staple of BB from the beginning.

2800mAh battery...good. Sealed, non-removable door...not good. Even though the battery is LARGE, a quad core processor and display on this machine may make for a thirsty beast. Hope they can keep it efficient w/good battery life. Just sayin'

My work PB is over a year old, used everyday and still shows good battery life. While replacing a digitizer on another PB I found it would take all of 5 minutes to replace the PB battery. Not a worry for me. I do prefer a removable battery on my phone though.

This is a Q1 2013 powerhouse. I don't see this as a dominant phone by summer 2013 however. If RIM builds this phone and holds off on launch day, what's the point? Their game plan cannot possibly be to release a high end phone a year from now, and release an average phone at launch as a place holder. This is either the launch phone or a fake.

I almost skat my pants reading these specs. Heart's racing, making me proud to not be an early adopter. I've conveniently forgotten my upgrade date so as to not have a heart attack when BB10 does actually drop. Do my eyes deceive me, or are those specs even better than the SGS3?

Same here... 1800 mAh is good but for a device of that size, and with it being all touch, you would think they would have made the battery bigger. We can also assume that the battery in the first BB10 QWERTY device will be even smaller... :(

Ok so it's purported dat d device bearing these specs is to come in 2013 as well! So why should I go splash cash a few months before on the lesser BB10 fones when something better is comin shortly! N my new phone wld b rendered outdated in a matter of mths by d 1 company!? By the way if the battery in those 1st BB10 fones is not good n in any way remind me of d 99xx battery, I'm not wasting my time!!

Not waiting for what maybe end of 2013-14 release, or could be vaporware who knows. A bird in the hand, and all that. Plus I don't like phones I can't slap in a freshly charged battery. I'll put the plastic down on the counter for the 1st BB10 qwerty out the door.

A key thing MANY smartphones are missing these days. I've told myself, the next phone I get has to have at least a 2500 mAh battery. I'm not keen on buying extended batteries anymore and I've never been a battery swapper, don't like to lose any downtime.

Unfortunately the average consumer will compare phones based on a spec sheet/checklist approach. Like how a porsche is faster than a corvette but the average american does not think so because the porsche only has a 6 cylinder

I would say that largely depends on the knowledge base of sales people. We know BB runs more efficiently than an open source (droid) OS. iOS does as well. If some red meat eating wife beater shirt wearing tobacco chewin' guy walks into a store and demands the most horsepower, then, no it won't win. However if the sales person is prudent and can show that because of software efficiency, the hardware doesn't need all the bells and whistles, then that is proper selling. IMO

Good (and funny) points but unfortunately this is the wall that eventually every potential BlackBerry customer hits... "dealing with sales people". Sales people who are either neutral or biased towards a platform other than Blackberry. BlackBerry needs a couple evangelist, just like how Apple has a store filled with at least 30 of them at any given time.

Only 16 gig on board... Whats the point of being able to download all these great apps and games and not have the memory to store them? I know this is crazy, but I was really hoping for a 64 gig model like my playbook... :(

The combo of 16gig + micro sd means they don't have to mess around with two versions that only vary with memory, they are simply not in the position where they can juggle stock so are unlikely to make a jump to 32gig as the base until the demand isn't there for 16gig models.

Um...what is this non-removable door thing...if this isn't a PlayBook no thank you...but I would assume this is a phone because 136mm is only about 13.5 cm which is a little less than 6 inches...so...RIM we want our removable battery!!! Other than that it looks good!

If this is the case then they deffinetely made the right choice of resolution for it lol very sneaky way of introducing another new resolution to the line up; give it to devs and they will make sure to optimize their app for resolution on their phone too hahaha

I bet you will be dead wrong on that, they have never been about taking part in the idiotic spec arms race since it is not something they could possibly win.

They are going to launch with fast dualcores that will run bb10 perfectly well and will move onto quadcore when it makes sense from technical, financial and market-driven reasons.

If bb10 offers enough stuff that is unique then people will not really care about spec specifics as much, just like with ios and unlike android where specs have to be king for companies to distinguish their products from one another.

Because there is no point releasing something with ludicrous specs if they are not necessary nor cost-effective to include, look at how many devices they are still selling and yet are making a loss due to it not being cost-effective to sell at the level that they are doing so and the same can also be true at the higher end if they cannot demand the premiums required. That approach is why so many android manufacturers that are not Samsung are struggling to make any money.

I guess you just killed any chance of RIM coming back - Now peple are probably going to wait for this device which will never arrive because RIM will already be dead due to the fact the 1st BB 10 devices are not going to sell.

my guess this is gonna be the phone that will reel in all the rich and famous. Once the rich and famous start talking about how awesome there BlackBerry is. Thats when the rest of the consumers line up to buy the cheaper same brand phones, because most customers dont know the difference.

Leaks of this kind may hurt RIM, since some consumers will withhold early purchases of the L-series at launch.

Although I find it illogical to release a better phone so soon after their critical BB10 launch date earlier in the year. This is either the launch phone or it will be released at least a year after launch...is my guess.

Indeed, the odds are that these are initial specs for a phone that is due out a year after the initial bb10 devices were due out (or 9 months after the actual release) because you can be sure that they will want to get back into pre-holiday season releases after this first one.

This really should be the launch phone... RIM is in for a world of hurt if they release the L-Series and then the A-series a few months later with way better specs.

The same thing happened to Motorola last year with the RAZR and the RAZR Maxx. RAZR came out in Oct/Nov 2011 and then when all the people complained about battery life, they released the RAZR Maxx in Jan/Feb..... People. Were. Pissed! Rightly so too...

That's the phone that should be released in Q1 2013!
Unfortunately, we probably won't see it for another year and who knows what the competition will have by then since they're already releasing phones with these specs right now...

And what's with the sealed battery door? I thought RIM has renewed its commitment to ship devices with easily swappable batteries, unlike the competition.

They probably have several sets of specs for future devices and I wouldn't be surprised if there is one for a similar device with a removable battery which either has a smaller battery or is a bit thicker.

Given the way that the market continues to move up to ever more stupidly-sized phones, it would not surprise me if there are also versions of this phone with an even larger screen such as 5" since that will provide a bigger gap between it and the initial bb10 devices.

It won't be released. RIM has already stated that BB10 devices will have removable battereier. That fact alone makes it suspect. A 4.65 device would also need a lot more resolution than 1280 X 720 specs listed. This sounds like a concept and a pretty bad one at that.

No they haven't, they have stated that the first ones will have removable batteries and as far as the resolution, have you actually looked around the market these days there are plenty of phones with that size screen or even larger that still stick to a 720p display for the simple fact of the matter that there are no readily available 1080p displays in anything vaguely phone-sized yet.

Simply leave for another ecosystem. I'm loyal to me first. That means having the features that are a must. Unless every other platform made phones with only built in batteries then there will always be other options. Just say no to cords.

Cool specs. I'm not crazy about specs but these are nice. However, I will get the L-series when released. 2800 mAh is a nice and big battery but I won't need it as long as the 1800 mAh of the L-series gets me through a day, the iPhone 5 has a 1440 mAh battery after all...

I read these specs and only one device made it to my mind: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or maybe 3.

Pretty simple in my home. We have 3 BB7's and one ol faithful 9700 in my home all elible for upgrades. Launch day I will treat myself to the new BB10. My son will get my 9900. When the new phones with better specs start arriving it will be Xmas for me all over again. My wife will get my used BB10 and eventually everyone will have a BB10 device. Get my drift?! Bring it RIMM$!!

It amazes me how moronic some of the people working for rim must be at times, you have a company losing money and is depending on bb10 doing well and yet they decide to leak potential specs for subsequent models to some random blog and it is not like they get any benefit from doing that.

In a similar fashion to what apple have done with the iphone 5, rim have made a big deal about how well the size of the devices they are demoing work onehanded and to abandon that idea to launch a bigger device would be stupid.

Also, some of the specs simply are not needed as anyone who owns a playbook can tell you, it runs very well on earlier dualcores so the latest stuff like the S4 from qualcomm will be more than enough without upping the cost with an unneeded quad-core chip in them.

One part of the spec that might prove useful would be the step up to 2gig of memory, it would give the os a bit more breathing space over the 1gig in the playbooks.

Trying to compete on specs is a fight that they will lose if they try to fight on that battleground, they have to fight on others such as unique software features while having strong enough specs in the important areas such as the screen which they have done with a retina-beating ppi on the 4.3" display.

I don't understand what you need a 4.6 inch device with quad core processor for? how fast do you want to launch your text message app or picture app, or play fruit ninja, or launch facebook. just give me the 4 inch or 4.2 inch device. people are going overboard with thier phones. if you need that much power, get a computer.

Get the London. If you off 6 months for an A-series because it's got better specs, then you might as well wait another 6 months after that. Because there will be new L-series with similar or better specs, and 6 months later, a new A-series.

Odds are that this will be 9 months after the L-series and is intended to be the yearly update to the all-touch range and will just turn up in less than 12 months due to the delays to the initial bb10 devices.

4.6"?? NOOOOOOOOOOO please please let there be a 4.2 or smaller option

Ok I breathed and thought about it, I'd prefer this spec sheet over the old leaked ones (even if I have to lug around a 4.6" phone with my practically-same-sized 7" playbook, if I knew the phone was going to be that big I might have picked up a 10" tablet) for the awesome battery

What I don't understand is why people are acting like this will be the last phone they buy. I get one per year and I don't make alot of money. The reason I mention that is there is no solid mention of when this phone will exist so how can you devote yourself to waiting? I mean we all know how RIM has been with timeliness and this one hasn't even been promised to us. All I'm saying is that for those who come to this Site we are the proud few who swap our phones like we do our underwear (you know what I mean). Why not get the first phone because I for one don't want to see all the whining going on in crackberry because of a phone that doesn't exist yet.

Serious question to anybody that knows: What's the benefit of non-removable battery?

Does it really make that much of a difference in design of the internals, since it's not like you can opt for a thinner/smaller battery just because it's non-removable? It seems to me it's just a matter of relocating the same battery pack closer to the back plate than the front, I don't see how this saves space or creates a thinner device, etc?

A non-removable battery tends to save at least 1mm for the same size battery, it does this in a number of ways such as you could potentially have an irregular shape that fitted the casing more snugly and you save space by wiring the battery directly to the device rather than via the usual connectors in the battery housing among other things.

I pray to god that its late 2013 and not earlier. Im getting the first L series and i really dont want to switch by summer already. If the London comes out in febbruary and the aristo comes out in november thats going to be perfect timing to ditch the old L series.

One thing i dont think ive seen posted...if this is indeed coming out near the end of the year 2013 it will be in direct competition with whatever the latest iteration of the iPhone is that comes out around its usual time

The overreaction on places like this to some vague leaked specs always amazes me, in the gadget world there is always going to be something better on the horizon and if you worry too much about that then you will never end up buying anything.

All you can really do is judge a device on its merits when it comes out while trying to avoid making any purchases immediately prior to a new model coming out so in the case of bb10 device that would seem to imply get the L-series or wait on a qwerty model when they first come out as the move to bb10 would be a big jump in its own right based on the software itself even if you ignore things like the very nice spec which includes a display with a higher ppi than 'retina' and if a device like this leaked one shows up in about a year's time then you could either sell your existing one to get the new one or you could do the same thing most people do with things like the iphone which is to buy every other model, so while you would miss out on this one then you would get the next one which would be higher spec again, assuming that such things as specs are even remotely important once they get beyond certain minimum levels.

I am really hoping that these are the specs the first BB10 device will make onto the market. With specs like these Android has gone completely out of my mind. When I saw the leaked specs for London et al, I was pretty let down. I am really hoping that RIM will really give me 10 reasons to believe and drop this for New Year's. With that said if they can ably deliver what they are demoing on lesser specs until them I am all for it

The way they have been describing BB10 and how everything is supposed to flow, these woudl be the specs that would handle those features. I know it's all speculation, but for BB10 to be successful and taken seriously, they need to come out with devices like this!!

These specs seem like someone's wet dream. So I'm skeptical. Maybe if it's a late 2013 release.

I like the 2gb RAM, but the quad core + 4.65" display and huge sealed battery just seem to be more an Android spec and not what RIM is about, at least in the near-term. It seems like this would be a pricey device. Options are good though.

I have the first L-series device in my sights. Unless this rumor becomes more substantial toward a mid-2013 release.

I currently have a 9900 and am patiently awaiting the release of this phone (have patiently for a long time waiting for this phone) The first phone I buy early next year better be the highest specked phone cause I'm not the type to switch up phones every year and I'd quite pissed if they released a higher spec phone later in the same year!

I'm so confused now. These are different specs for a different "yet to be released device"?

So, I'm waiting on BB10 from now until mid-Feb / end of Q1 2013... then this is coming out 3 - 9 months later? What the heck? I guess I'm through with early adoption with RIM. I think I'll sit out a few rounds and see what happens. Let the ole 9900 get long in the tooth.

Yes, yes, there's always another device. But, Apple, for example, at least waits a year before pimping out a new one - and pissing everyone off who just lined up and spent the cash. Seriously, what the heck?

For everyone saying they're going to wait to buy until this phone comes out, keep in mind that if everyone does what you do, RIM will make no money and then this phone will *never* see the light of day.

There's always going to be some new and shiny next big thing. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate leaks as much as the next guy, but they can sabotage a company's game plan by putting people on the fence when it comes to purchasing decisions. A company in RIM's state can least afford that to happen.

Actually,...by leaking the devices specs,...it "freezes" everyone from making a decision to buy the competition! This way,...folks will want to wait and use their upgrade on a new BB10 device,...and or continue saving for what may be the cost of the new BB10 devices.

Man! I'm so sold on these specs,...and I'd be willing to shell out $299 in a heartbeat for it. I say this because I know that I'm getting a better device than anything on the market,...which makes it worth it even more! You can't just say a device is better,...unless it is actually BETTER and that includes both hardware and software!

My theory: RIM announced previously that BB10 will be delayed due to the availability of a certain chip set. The Artiso with the specs described above is the BB10 phone that will be launch in Q1 of 2013... the wait being related to the perceived need to launch a quadcore handset to exist among what the competition will have produced, or will be ready to release, by then.

The L-series we're familiar through all the leaks to date was probably on display at BB Jam Americas, also know as the BB10 Dev Alpha B. Except RIM put that weird rubber moulding around it to make it "developer" like.

So its safe to say if they're bringing in a bigger badder all touch after the L series, then perhaps there's an N series with a taller screen coming as well...? Something along the lines of the titan tk2 victory size. I honestly believe THAT form factor would be the one everyone will want.

Kudos for the mention. So far the leaked N-Series render only provides a visual acknowledgement to the square screen with a 720x720 res., 1:1 ratio. This is later confirmed in the BB10 UI Guidelines PDF which looks to be a majority of the info provided from developer.BlackBerry...

I certainly agree with the size of the TK Victory, but it will be the size of the TK Justice that will have everyone drooling.

Leaks first and foremost should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, there isn't an official announcement nor is there a release date so what I'm not understanding is why everyone has decided to duke it out and wait? When the time comes around RapidBerry or CrackBerry would probably have already leaked several possible BlackBerry's. Don't tell me you all are going to wait another several months?

Why isn't this the first BlackBerry 10? Using a baseball analogy, the teams do not put their best of the best first to bat. The best hitters fall in the 4-5 order of batters. This could be the same like L-Series, N-Series, possibly PlayBook OS10 update and then Aristo.

On the removable battery or lack thereof. There was an excellent explaination given above, but with 2800mAh maximised with OS10 we are going to see a hell of a lot of improvements with optimisation to fit the bill of this battery so we get a day + more worth. The notion of pulling batteries comes from dealing with 1200-1500mAh batteries not 2800!

I noticed not a single soul mentioned the depth of 8.85mm. I clearly remember back in April this year when CB published the TK Victory that everyone whinned on the 8.5mm depth that it had mentioned and I see some familiar names...has everyone finally accepted the skinny on mobiles? This is quite interesting!

I'm buying the first one out the door so that RIM is still around in the summer so I can get this one!
(like to see higher specs on the camera, not that there's anything wrong with 8 MP, and a 64 gig memory card )
YOWZA!!!!!!! :)

Hope RIM is paying attention to these comments coz if they have plans of dropping something lesser @ launch... It jst myt not sell out... If this was done by a competior then its a smart move coz it certainly got pple craving. BB10 lauch is critical for RIMPIRE and as such they just have to drop the biggest gun they got even if it takes anoda year to top it, pple would still be quite content.

I hope RIM doesn't make the same mistake of creating a million types of device with a million res's. Variety is good but Keep it simple. Although BB10 is the easiest ecosystem to port apps, I'm afraid they'll make too many res's for devolpers to want to keep up with and cause the same droubt of apps as they've done in the past. 3 form factors is all we need. Full touch, touch/qwerty and maybe a slider. And leave it @ that. We bang on apple for staying boring and simple (os, form factor, UI etc) but that "simple" has made it easy and cost efficient for them to mass produce and have everyone both cosumers and developers on the same page. I'm just saying...

I agree. I really don't want RIM to mass produce BlackBerry's in all shapes and sizes, but even if they do there will be a total of only 3 ppi resolutions to deal with compared to Android. 1280x768 (RIM has said removing 24px from left to right on the screen would resolve the 720 scale down), 1280x720, and 720x720. Honestly these are great. I would however dismiss the 1280x720 altogether and keep it all rich on the visual experience.

I agree with digital. The visual experience is vital for rim @ this point. Stay appealing to the average consumer. BB users are gona love these phones. However they need to reel in the former bb users and whoa the bb na'sayers. In this case of today's generation of screens and res's "size matters". Lol

With a bit of searching you would have discovered that RIM has standardized their resolutions, 1280x720 and 720x720. Only the first gen BB10 phone will deviate slightly (as the poster above has indicted).

Ok this is a case of Lust at first sight/read. Like quite a few on here I am hoping that THIS is the phone RIM holds up at January's CES and says "Behold the RIMpire has indeed struck back!" I've been holding on to my 8350 waiting for BB10 (slider preferred) w/ a physical QWERTY keyboard but if this streets in Q1 I may well be persuaded to go to an all touch unit. as for the battery issue I've had no problems with my Playbook's battery life so hopefully RIM has that bug squashed already.

(Hearing Gollum in the background....Precious me wants it nowwwwwwwwwwwwww!)

Could someone take a picture of a Blackberry Bold 9900/9930 on top of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus please as this is probably one of the closest devices comparable to the specs of this Aristo device in terms of dimension.

Bottoms of the phones should be level with a blank white screen on both devices if possible...please!!??

I disagree that this should be the device at launch. RIM can't release a premium aka expensive phone at launch. It is needs to be a reasonably priced device so that people would be tempted to try it. Remember, this is a new OS and platform from a company who people have said is on the verge of dying. People are not going to buy an expensive phone for a "dying" company but they may buy a reasonably priced one, just to try it. It is a new product, they need to lower the barrier to try it. Even you, the die hard fans, would be pissed if you buy the expensive version first at launch and it experiences severe growing pains.

Also, they should do a lower spec'd phone at launch to show just smooth it is on inexpensive hardware, this would help them with the bulk of their global marketshare. The people who have been keeping them afloat for the past 2 years. I live in Barbados and a 9900 is either 1699 or 1789, dependent on the carrier. Most people get 8520s.

I don't think this is a reality. I think it's a draft. Subject to change, being released late in 2013, just guessing since this leak is going to change and isn't to be assumed to be finalized. Take it with a grain of salt people and don't get your pants in a knot.

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